It is astounding how significantly one idea can shape a society and its policies. Consider this one.

If taxes on the rich go up, job creation will go down.
This
idea is an article of faith for republicans and seldom challenged by
democrats and has shaped much of today's economic landscape.
But
sometimes the ideas that we know to be true are dead wrong. For
thousands of years people were sure that earth was at the center of the
universe. It's not, and an astronomer who still believed that it was,
would do some lousy astronomy.
In
the same way, a policy maker who believed that the rich and businesses
are "job creators" and therefore should not be taxed, would make equally
bad policy.
I have started or
helped start, dozens of businesses and initial-